Volunteers in sport allow young people to discover a passion for sport and to connect with adults within their community
Dr Peter Thomond, director of strategy and innovation, SportInspired
I
nspired by the impact of the Shoreditch Sharks, a kids rugby club in Hackney, Rich Raynes and I founded SportInspired in 2008 – a social en-
terprise dedicated to building healthier, happier communities by leveraging the power of sport and the talent and the resources of businesses. SportInspired has pioneered a community engagement pro-
cess called Community Games, which offers: • fun, local, multi-sport festivals where hundreds of local school children compete in at least eight different sports • sports coached by local sports clubs and providers who in turn recruit new members and increase their profile • games are delivered in partnership by local young leaders and corporate volunteers • free entry, as we provide them as a volunteering or team- building service to corporate partners By the end of 2011, SportInspired’s Community Games will
have touched the lives of 25,000 individuals; hundreds of com- munity sports clubs will have new recruits and better profiles and thousands of young people will have benefited from dis- covering or rediscovering a passion for sport and connecting with adults in their community. The government’s Big Society agenda simply builds upon
the rich tradition of community sport and people giving time, talent and resources. Stepping up for your community should be the norm rather
than the exception. We believe that old models of sport or community development, based entirely upon charity and tax- payers cash are not working or broken, which is why we need innovative individuals and social enterprises to challenge the assumptions of market failure and create new ways of deliver- ing the positive social outcomes of sport.
Issue 2 2011 © cybertrek 2011
Richard Yule, CEO, England Table Tennis Association
I
think sport is already a classic example of the Big Society in action as we know that 25 per- cent of all volunteering is done in sport. However, my issue is with the current delivery
system – particularly through the local authority leisure and the education sectors – which I believe could and should be more voluntary club friendly. The Active People Survey results are giving us proof that de-
spite the big investment in sport during the last 30 years – in terms of the numbers of professionals working in the sector and the expansion of local authority and private sector facili- ties – we’ve not seen what we hoped for in terms of an increase in participation. Too much of the available resources are being spent on sustaining the existing local authority infrastructure (particularly in the pay and play model) and not enough on en- couraging voluntary-run community sports clubs. Certainly in my own sport the bulk of our voluntary table
tennis club infrastructure does not take place in local authority sports centres or schools because cost is a major issue and too often opportunities for social interaction are limited. It’s just as important what goes on off the court of play as
it is on it. We are social animals and increases in participation seem to be coming from the engagement in sports and recre- ation from a social and recreational stance rather than through the traditional sports development model. We need to look at a different delivery system, which en-
courages asset transfer to voluntary clubs and encourages local authorities to commission and incentivise new and existing sports clubs to deliver attractive and affordable sport and recreation programmes to young people and ‘hard to reach groups’. By in- creasing the reach of re-energized voluntary club infrastructure we will build social capital and society will reap the benefits.
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